One Bad Apple Spoils The Bunch
by DarkElements10
Summary: Apple Picking was never one of Zack's favorite activities, but he gets how it can be romantic when with the right person. If he didn't kill Cody first. [From List of Fall Prompts on tumblr]


**One Bad Apple Spoils The Bunch**

**By: Riley**

**Summary****\- Apple Picking was never one of Zack's favorite activities, but he gets how it can be romantic when with the right person. If he didn't kill Cody first. [From List of Fall Prompts on tumblr]**

* * *

"Please explain to me what makes apple picking a romantic date."

Zack trudged along behind Cody and Bailey, who strolled hand in hand along the path of the brightly colored orchard. He held his hands tightly in the pockets of his jeans and kicked at a wayward pile of leaves scattered along the path, watching as they fluttered back to the ground. "Because I'm starting to get bored."

"You're bored with anything that doesn't have flashing lights and beeping, Zack," Cody replied, casting an annoyed glance to his brother over his shoulder. "For our next birthday I'm getting you a dog toy."

"It's better than all the other gifts you've given me," Zack replied. "Encyclopedias. Dictionaries. Socks." He rolled his eyes. "What was I going to do with that?"

"I don't know, maybe _learn _something?"

"I learned that you're even more of a dork than I already thought."

Cody opened his mouth to send back another barb but Bailey quickly intervened. She flashed Zack a sweet smile, gently nudging him on the arm and said, "Come on, Zack, apple picking is _so _romantic." She dropped her hand from Cody's and clasped them together in front of her. "It's one of the best dates you can have back in Kettlecorn, when you're not going to the rodeo." She smiled wistfully, turning her gaze to the sky. "You get to spend the day outdoors, take in the fresh air that's, for once, not filled with cow pies. All day you get to nibble on some of Eve's forbidden fruit that doomed the two lovers. You get to offer each other sweaters, cosy up to get warm." Cody's smile slowly faded as she kept going. "Get lifted onto each other's shoulders to reach into the higher branches for the biggest apples. Bake pies together."

Zack's upper lip slowly curled in disgust, at Bailey's gushing over the activity. From all that he'd seen that day, there was nothing there that'd be considered romantic. It was too cold and he didn't have anyone to even think about cuddling with. Not, especially, when the girl farmhands that'd wave from atop the tractors that rolled by weren't much to look at by his standards. (Though, as Cody said, he didn't have any standards).

"Wait," Cody said slowly. "You didn't go on any of those dates with _Moose _did you?"

Zack's lips quickly turned into an amused smile. _Now _things were getting interesting. Bailey's eyes widened innocently, her head gently flicking back and forth as she tried to find the best way to respond so not to incur Cody's wrath and insecurity over Bailey's ex-boyfriend.

"N-not _just _with Moose, we went with _all _of our friends." She cupped her hands, bouncing them as if she were packing a snowball together. "It was a group thing."

"How small of a group?"

"Before you start into Cody's wishing he was Moose, can someone else _please _carry this bucket?" Zack turned to see Riley slam the bucket of apples on the ground. She breathed heavily, placing her hands on her hips, staring at Zack at the same time that Bailey and Cody leveled him with wide, shocked eyes.

Despite the chill in the air, Zack felt a line of sweat appear on his forehead. "What?" He asked innocently, unsure of how the brewing fight managed to turn on him.

"Zack, you're making _her _carry all the apples?" Bailey demanded.

"Hey, _I _didn't even want to come," Zack defended himself, slapping his hands to his chest. "But you promised me some pie and so far, there's been no pie!" He gestured wildly with his arms. "And it's not like I was going to have Cody carry it, he can barely carry a pencil without breaking a sweat."

Cody huffed. "I have a condition, I can't lift more than twenty pounds. You know that."

"Is that condition being a nerd?"

"Guys, just stop," Bailey said, heaving an impatient sigh. She moved to Riley's side and picked up the bucket of apples with ease that made Riley give her a slightly annoyed, mostly impressed smile. "You're going to ruin the day."

"Zack's already ruined it," Cody insisted.

"Besides," Riley asked, motioning to the bucket Bailey easily carried. "What are we going to do with all these apples?"

"What I planned on doing with them!" Zack grabbed an apple out of the bucket. He spun it in his fingers before lobbing it at the back of Cody's head, making him grin when it landed with a solid _thwack_.

"Ow! Zack!"

_"Zack!" _Zack mimicked in a high-pitched, squealing tone. Cody glared, started to say something, but was stopped, once again, by Bailey.

"Look, Cody." She stepped closer to her boyfriend's side. "Why don't we just keep picking. And Zack, you and Riley can wait for us back at the start." She fluttered her eyelashes, grinning up at Cody. "Come on, it'll be fun. We can take turns classifying the apples along the way."

Cody's face lit up. "And determine the best ones to pick based on ripeness, weight, and coloration? Aw, you know the way to my heart, Bailey-Bunny!"

"Only because it's the key to mine, Cody-Kitten," Bailey replied.

Riley stepped up to Zack's side, folding her arms over her chest. Her face was twisted into an expression equally of disgust and horror. "I reckon it's not considered 'romantic' if I kill the both of them, yeah?" She asked.

"I don't know," Zack replied in the same tone. "It'd get my heart going." He waved a hand, signaling to Cody and Bailey they were leaving, though they were already in their own little world, pointing out apples as they went along.

Zack breathed a long sigh of relief when they were out of sight. "Finally," he declared, turning toward Riley, giddiness spreading through his chest at the moment alone he'd been waiting for since the day started.

She looked back at him with a light shake of her head. "It took you _that _long to get rid of them? Mate, you and Cody argue and get on each other's nerves like it's your bloody job."

"I'm sorry, but Bailey is harder to annoy," Zack declared, throwing his hands into the air. "I thought I would've gotten her when I blew that snot rocket off the back of the carriage." Riley's face screwed up prompting Zack to wiggle a finger in her face, grinning. "Yeah, like that."

"Please don't ever mention that again, Zack," she murmured, bringing a hand to her stomach. "_Especially _once Cody starts making his apple pie."

"You don't even like apple pie."

"And I hate it even more after that."

Zack grinned. For a moment, he lifted his gaze from her face to take in their surroundings. A path within the apple orchard, filled with other families and couples wanting to spend the day with their loved ones. It _was_ romantic, he surmised; with the chilled air, fiery orange leaves, and, Bailey was right, the ability to be closer to someone when they got cold.

Zack had seen, for most of the day, that Riley had slowly grown colder as the day went on. Huffing quietly to herself as she rubbed her hands up and down her arms, used to the warmer climates of her home in Australia. Zack, Cody, and Bailey, however, used to Boston winters and the cold nights in Kansas were able to handle the change in temperature as the seasons changed. And, it sucked that he couldn't do anything for her until they were alone.

That he couldn't reach out and wrap his arms around her, pulling her to his chest so that she could wrap her arms around his waist, and he could rub her arms to warm her a little. That he could laugh teasingly at the shiver that passed through her body, making him vibrate so that she mumbled, "Shut up," against his chest before tilting her head back so that her chin rested on his chest.

Hated that he couldn't come right out and saw he was with her when it was all he wanted, and yet, like the stillness of the day, he enjoyed having time where it could just be the two of them. Not that he didn't like double-dating at times, but Zack was selfish and wanted to have her to herself sometimes.

Riley smiled sweetly and Zack leaned down and pressed his lips against hers in an even sweeter kiss.

* * *

**A/N: **_Episode Collection _again? Lol)

I hope you liked it.

**Cheers,**

**-Riley**


End file.
